


spades

by orphan_account



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Blackrom, Caliginous Romance | Kismesis, Dystopia, F/M, Flashbacks, Found Family, M/M, Revenge, Wilderness Survival, but like only for maybe a second, it's a flashback story at first, we're doing that, yup
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-03-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:41:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 8,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22154962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: After Tak was sent floating through space, she finds herself losing more and more hope as dehydration and starvation consume her body. Just when she thinks that her life is over, a planet drifts into view. She pieces herself and her equipment back together, and plots to gain revenge on Zim for his actions--but sometimes things just don't turn out the way they should.
Relationships: Almighty Tallest Purple/Almighty Tallest Red, Almighty Tallest Red/Zim, Tak/Zim (Invader Zim)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 28





	1. planet ???

Tak had spent a long time drifting aimlessly in space. 

Her pod wasn’t capable of complete flight, no matter how much she adjusted and calibrated and  _ adjusted and calibrated _ . With all the time she’s spent alone with a broken SIR unit, the tolls began to show themselves in her physical body. PAKs were designed and equipped with the resources needed to allow irkens to go large chunks of time without food, water, and rest; however Tak had discovered for herself what exactly that time limit was.

She was so sure she was going to die like this. She should have just waited out the rest of the 30 years. Maybe then things would have turned out better for her. Maybe then she could have gotten adequate revenge on that horrible shortstack- Zim.

Poor Tak had been ready to give up everything when a planet had drifted into her view. The sight had almost instantly revived her. “MiMi!” 

The dead unit didn’t answer. Irkens, however, aren’t that different from humans it seems--seeking companionship in anything they could project their emotions on--because Tak continued to talk to what used to be MiMi. “We’re saved, we’re gonna-I’m gonna live.” She slammed her fist on the pod to try and wake it up from its power outage. 

It shuddered, but didn’t start up. Tak gave an angry grunt, and opened up the dashboard. She filled with several wires to try and get an electric start, before she resorted to drastic measures and plugged herself directly into the system.

It did the trick, it whirred to a start. She tapped several glowing letters on many holographic screens, and then locked in on the planet. “Looks like there’s an atmosphere, but I’ll leave my helmet on just in case,” she mumbled. “It’s not catalogued in Irk’s planetary directory, so we’re taking a huge risk landing here,” she paused. “But it’s either die on this disgusting rock or die in space. I think the former is the better of the two options.”

She rubbed her eye. The bags beneath them felt heavier than ever, as she typed out coordinates and mathematical equations. “That should do it.” She hit a button, and sat back. “Aren’t we lucky we didn’t come across a black hole instead of this planet, right?”

More silence. Tak shook her head. “I have to keep pretending I’m not talking to myself, MiMi. Or else I’ll never do anything else.”

Tak closed her hands, allowing the pod to shudder and tumble as it locked onto a feasible place to land, and ran its course. As it broke the ozone, and battled against gravity and resistance, it was surprisingly stable for something so demanding on the old machine. Tak almost hadn’t realized she had landed, but that might’ve been because she had dozed off in the middle of it. 

She sat up numbly and activated her helmet, then looked over at MiMi’s deactivated body. “I’ll be back soon. I need to find a source of water.” 

The hatch pops open and dust immediately buffets against her helmet. She squinted as she climbed out of the pod and landed onto the ground below. Her knees gave out, and she fell to the ground with a grunt. “Weak.” She noted. She deployed her PAK legs to stand herself up, and as she settled on her feet she staggered lightly.

Tak coughed and wiped the front of her helm, as though it would aid her vision in the dust storm. Then she began to walk forward, in no particular direction, with little hope that she was going to make it anywhere fast enough to save herself.


	2. salutatorian

“Cadet Tak!”

The student straightened up immediately when she heard her name called and saluted the elite. “Present!”

The instructor leered at her, and she lowered her gaze nervously. “I know you’re present,  _ smaller _ . Just because you’re the class salutatorian doesn’t mean you can be  _ sassy _ .”

Tak opened her mouth to explain herself, but shut it. There was no point, unfortunately. “Yes sir, I’m sorry sir.”

“I’d be interested to see how a training session goes between you and Cadet Red,” as the elite continued talking, Tak found that she drowned out the rest of his voice. Cadet Red, valedictorian, the model student, the tallest of the class, and the one who was glued to Zim’s side 24/7.

It bothered her so much. Zim had eyes for no one but that mutant-eyed freak. She knew that if Red had been anywhere near her height he would’ve been eliminated in the smeetery long before they made it in academy. But things didn’t work out that way. 

Deep down, Tak knew that her feelings for her peer were unfounded. He was a sweet person, despite the fact that being sweet doesn’t get you anywhere on Irk. But… she looked over her shoulder, away from the elite addressing her, and in the direction of Red.

He was slouching somewhat. He almost exclusively refused to stand at his full height. And he was staring at Zim with the softest googly eyes in the world.  _ Argh _ . Tak wanted to gag. The urge faded, however, as her gaze trailed to Zim, who was going on and on about something. Her heart skipped a beat. Oh, and deep down, she knew that she knew how Red felt. She felt a sinking sensation in her gut. It frustrated her to know that she could never be in Red’s boots. To know that he was right there, listening to Zim, because he was tall and she…

“Cadet.”

She jerked around to face the elite. “Yes sir?”

“For today’s training session you’re going to get beaten to a pulp by Student Red. Have fun.” He walked away, snickering, after he handed her the assignment ticket.

She stared at it, and felt another feeling in her gut, but this time it made her whole body burn. They had too much faith in that stupid cocky brat. He cried at even the insinuation that he had failed, so how on Irk was he going to beat  _ her _ ? She was sure he was only valedictorian because he was tall. She gripped the device in her hand tightly. She refused to be talked to like she was nothing. She stared at Red again, and stepped forward. “My taller…”


	3. water

Tak sat up. The first thing that entered her vision were what looked like tall bushes with trunks that belonged to trees. 

She felt the ground through her white gloves and slid her fingers against an individual blade of grass. 

“Water,” she breathed and adjusted herself so that she was kneeling. She stared at the pond she had passed out next to, and her reflection told her she had taken her helmet off to take long sips from the sweet spring.

Everything before she had passed out was blurry. But she knew that she had at least satisfied one dangerously low need. She could go longer without food. She probably wouldn’t have lived much longer without water.

Her PAK opened with a whish and a whir, and she pulled out a device that appeared to be a map. It was naturally generated as she had walked. She noted that the distance between the escape pod and where she was now was much longer than she could have ever guessed from how close to death she’d been. She looked up at the sky. How long were days on this planet? She would have to find food, and possibly some building scraps, before she returned to her pod, before the night arrived. After all, who knew what this planet had in store for her at night.

The issue was that she couldn’t consume most natural foods. She stood up. “But I suppose I’ll have to make due with whatever I can find until I can get back to an irken station, Mi-” 

She trailed off, and looked behind her. MiMi wasn’t with her now. Not even her deactivated body. Tak felt a pang of sadness rush her heart before she shook it off. Non-defective irkens don’t feel emotions, non-defective irkens don’t feel emotions, non-defective irkens don’t feel emotions. The repeated mantra didn’t do much to help her. “I wonder if I’m going to die from some kind of poisonous plant, after I’ve gotten this far.” She grumbled as she began to walk. “What a way for me to go out.”

After what felt like several hours, Tak kicked something hard, and grunted as she stepped back and looked down. She kneeled and took out a device to scan the object, as the sound was nothing like that of kicking a rock.

_ Unfamiliar material, _ but it was metal, from what the numbers read. She looked over the screen. “Hm…” It was buried rather deep. If only MiMi wasn’t dead. She deployed her PAK legs and aimed carefully around the exposed before blasting around it to expose the metal further. 

“I wonder what happened,” she ponders aloud. This planet so far seems rather uninhabited, and this piece of metal seems as though it belonged to an intelligent civilization before. She dusted some dirt off of the surface of the material, and then squints at the gleam. At first, she thought it was a trick of her eye, or that she was hallucinating. But her stomach sank as soon as she recognized that those were irkens, and they were behind her. She turned around with a frightened shriek, when a sharp pain connected to her head, and her vision tilted upwards into black.


	4. sweetheart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sweetheart - in irken, this noun is a derogatory term. It means that you view someone smaller, softer, and you're calling them faint of heart.

“Huh?” Red flinched when he heard someone address him. He shied behind Zim, which Tak couldn’t help but roll her eyes at. Absolutely pathetic. “Yes?”

“Instructor Briech has paired us up for training today,” she handed him the device she had almost broken mere moments ago. “I trust you won’t go easy on me, will you?”

She refused to look at Zim, who she knew was staring at her curiously. “No! I’m-uh,” Red cleared his throat and stood a little taller. He smirked too. Disgusting. “I’m not known for being merciful.”

“Don’t let me down, sweetheart.” She said, and began to walk away.

“HEY!”

Tak stopped.

“You don’t get to  _ call  _ him that,” Zim snapped. A click of a heel suggested he had stepped forward. “ **Sweetheart.** ”

Despite the nickname being incredibly insulting, Tak felt heat develop in her face. One of her antennae twitched, and she tilted her head slightly as though she were looking over her shoulder.

“Bold words from someone so short.” She said, despite every nerve in her body telling her to apologize. “I’ll see you in the fighting rink, Red.”


	5. copper

Tak woke up with a start, and she immediately jumped to her feet. The sudden movement shoved a headrush through her body, and she teetered back down onto a… mattress?

“I’d suggest ya eat before ya do somethin like that again,” a smooth voice reached her. When her vision cleared, she followed the sound, and her eyes fell upon a figure sitting by a warm orange light. He was tweaking something on his arm, which she realized with a horrible chill was completely mechanical. He lost his arm!

He looked up at her, and she noted the color of his eyes-bright orange. He had several black marks over his forehead, cheeks, chin, and nose. His antennae were almost spiked forward in an odd zigzag, and he was wearing orange armor to top it all off. If Tak hadn’t been so sure in her abilities as an invader, she knew this was the type of person she wouldn’t take on in a fight.

Her eyes slid down and noted he was also wearing heels. “Well?”

“What?” She snapped.

“Are ya goin to eat? Or do ya  _ wanna _ starve to death?” He had an odd accent, and she couldn’t understand everything he was saying, but she understood enough to fill in the blanks. He nodded towards a table nearby her cot, and she looked over. There was a tray with assorted food. It almost looked like she was a guest, not a prisoner. She hesitantly reached for a slice of what looked like fruit. “Just so ya know-I mean, it’d be pretty shitty of us to lie.” 

He closed the panel in his arm that he was screwing with and paid complete attention to her now. This kid was young, she thought, evermore curious. “What?”

“Keep up the attitude and I’m clockin ya again.”

“Try me.” Tak snapped back. 

The irken seemed to move as though he were going to follow through, but then he relaxed and shook his head. “We fucked with ya PAK,”

“You did what?!”

“Relax, all we did was disconnect ya from,” he waved his hand vaguely. “The control brains. It’s a personal thing. And, sure, it’ll benefit ya too, not to be under constant surveillance, even if yer a bootlicker.” 

Tak sneered, but didn’t answer.

“So what’s yer story? This ain’t a planet ya come across accidentally.”

“That’s absolutely what happened.” She stuffed the fruit into her mouth and the taste made her gut clench with pain and her mouth water. She instantly grabbed handfuls of food and stuffed it into her mouth, hardly chewing. Oh, she was so hungry. Oh, she was safe. 

“Erm, I’m Copper.” The man stated while he ignored her ferocious chewing and choking. “Leader of a rebellion against Irk.”

She stopped eating, and looked back at him. “Hm.”

“Penny for yer thoughts?”

Tak had never considered herself a rebel, but she did know that the lifestyle on Irk was more bothersome than perfect. For example, being encoded to a janitorial drone instead of being allowed to take the test to be an elite. She glared darkly at her tray. “Nothing serious,” she grabbed a flask that was next to the tray, and took a long swig, before clearing her throat. “I’m Tak.”

“Well then, Tak, ya have two options.” He stood up, and Tak’s antennae pinned to the back of her head as she realized exactly how tall this bastard was. “Yer gonna stay on this planet as a prisoner or a helper, or yer gonna die right here.” 

Then she immediately sensed another presence as they too stood up, even taller than Copper. She hissed, backing away from the two as Copper drew out a gun and pointed it at her head, and the other, larger irken held out his hand. Electrical sparks fizzed around a large yellow circle set in his palm. “So what’s it gonna be?”


	6. bronze

Tak leaned away from the gun, which only inched closer to her face. It was an interesting position to be in, and honestly? She was scared. She couldn’t fight back weak as she was, so truly the only options were what Copper had presented her. Besides, she didn’t even know how many others were surrounding them. She was at a severe disadvantage.

“Ya know, the longer ya take the more likely I’m just gonna unleash Hell.”

“Fine, fine,” Tak raised her hands up in surrender. “I’ll work.”

Copper analyzed her expression for a bit, clearly trying to uncover if this was only a way to get out of the dire predicament she was in. Then, he lowers his gun, and the irken next to him lowers his hand too. “Great. Bronze, keep an eye on ‘er, I’m goin to assign patrols.”

Copper left, and Bronze sat down once more. He folded his arms, and didn’t move again, not even a shudder. She felt unnerved. Just when she was going to attempt to address ‘Bronze’, Copper stuck his head back into the tent. “I’d suggest ya get some rest instead of talkin to him. He don’t talk.”

“Wha-huh!?” Tak stammered, alarmed. Could he read minds? Before she could ask, he was outside of the tent again. She looked back at Bronze, and then at the entrance, and then sank down into the mattress. She turned over so that her back was towards the other irken, and she sighed deeply. 

What a fine mess she’d gotten into. She shifted uneasily, and raised her hand to feel around her head, finding a spot that was tender from when she was struck earlier. She hissed and grumbled and fidgeted on the mattress, before settling once again. 

She wondered about her pod, about her SIR, or what was left of it, and felt melancholy. Tak felt alone and she felt like her situation couldn’t have gotten more bleak. 

There was no point in wallowing though. She knew this. Still, she found it hard to wind down enough to fall asleep. She kept thinking about how she could make her escape, how she could get revenge on Zim.

Zim…

He was becoming a sort of obsession wasn’t he? It seems like nothing had changed since she was a student at the irken military academy.

She closed her eyes and forced that thought out of her mind. She  _ had  _ changed. She was nothing like that little smeet who was head over heels for someone shorter than her. In fact, she supposed that’s what she and Tallest Red had in common. They both admired Zim, they both were taller than him, and they both moved on to better things.

Comforted by this thought, Tak drifted off into a dreamless slumber.


	7. breakfast

**CLANG! CLANG!**

“Rise and shine, beauties!”

Tak found herself burning with irritation at the sound of such a stupidly sauve voice. Even Zim at the very least had a kind of cockiness in his voice you could tolerate, but this, it was ridiculous.

In fact, the urge to punch the owner was the only reason she got up at all. She sat up and jumped when she noticed Bronze stand up immediately after. You’d think he would have left some time during the night, but he was still there. 

Tak stood up and took a step towards the tent entrance. He took a step as well. She wasn’t sure what point he was trying to make, but it was enough to make her step back and sit down again. He didn’t move to sit down too. She was full of uneasy curiosity when the tent entrance opened.

“So who’s the new girl~?” An irken with blue eyes purred, and she instantly recognized it as the voice that was waking everyone up.

Tak didn’t get to answer him (or rather, attack him). “Out of the way, Nyx.” His face was already being pushed out of the way by a familiar mechanical hand. Copper grunted. “Ya don’t get to chat with the newcomers, because last time ya got ya arm broken.”

“He was just a bitch! I’m sure my charms would work just fine on this cutie.”

_ I’m going to kill you before I leave,  _ Tak thought furiously. Copper shut the tent on Nyx’s face and then addressed Bronze.

“Thanks, ya can take the day off and sleep.” 

“You don’t have anything else for me to do?” Bronze’s voice was light, and despite the fact that his face was covered by a mask and goggles, Tak could tell he was young too.

“I do have somethin for ya to do. It’s sleep. Ya been up all day yestaday and all night last night. Get out of here. If I catch ya up I’m gonna sock ya, Scissors.” Bronze punched Copper’s shoulder on the way out for what Tak assumed was a mean nickname. There was a sort of abnormal admiration for how much respect Bronze had for Copper despite the height difference. It almost instantly changed her opinion about this situation and the group alltogether.

They aren’t treating her with disrespect because she’s short. They’re treating her so lowly because she’s a suspicious person. Suddenly, she was eager to prove herself. “And Tak, I feel like yer more capable than menial work, but yer weak from starvation.” She opened her mouth to argue, but then shut up. He was right. 

“How good are ya with machines? Ships n shit?” 

“Ships? I built my ship and SIR myself out of scraps on planet Dirt, I’d say I’m pretty good.” She said. She felt irritated, but then again, this person didn’t know her until yesterday. She was very close to negotiating terms with Copper. She’ll work on whatever equipment he needed her to work on, but in turn she would be allowed to have any extra scraps. But she held her tongue. Something told her that Copper wouldn’t be thrilled to hear that she wanted to leave.

“Then ya won’t mind if I accompany ya, right?” Copper replied. He was testing her.

“Not at all, I could use someone for heavy lifting.” She challenged back. Copper gave a little tilt of his head, not staring at her. It made her cock her head. She wondered what she said to draw out that reaction from him.

“I’ll show ya the way then.” Copper held open the tent flap for her. “And, just as a forewarnin, though it may seem temptin- don’t hurt anyone in the camp.” He smirked at her, and she smiled back. Seems like Nyx was annoying to more people than just herself. She stepped passed Copper and squinted as the harsh sunlight forced her vision to readjust, but when it did, she found herself staring at the area in awe. 

What she initially had anticipated as a small ragtag team of rebels in a little camp stretched in the form of small buildings in all directions as far as she could see. There was a line of fire pits with about a meter between each one that went down what seemed like a main avenue. Irkens tall and small walked back and forth next to it, carrying various crates and materials. Some sat around pits that had already been lit, chatting animatedly. There was, occasionally, an alien or two amongst the mix. 

Though the majority of camp was made up of tents, she found that this was clearly a permanent home. As Copper led her down the main avenue, she saw structures being constructed-buildings. Houses. Tak understood now; why Copper disconnected her from the main hub back home. If she had been witnessing this while still hooked up, this place would be immediately dismantled and destroyed. It actually hurt her heart to think of something so horrible happening.

Copper grabbed Tak’s arm, and she wrenched herself out of his grip. “Don’t manhandle me.”

“Pipe down, Sack, it’s breakfast time.” He grabbed her again, but this time softer. 

“What did you just call me?” She growled as he led her to a fire pit with logs set around it. The irken she recognized as Bronze was wearing yellow tinted glasses instead of goggles now, and his mask was drawn down. Copper let Tak go and sat down next to Bronze. He leaned forward and kissed his cheek. Ah.

“Oh!” A kind of light but nasally voice caught her attention. Tak jumped back with a yelp as a tall irken with bright bubblegum pink eyes leaned forward. Her smile seemed completely unhinged. “Coppa gives us all nicknames! He’s calls Sciva ‘scissas’ and Nyx he calls ‘next’, he’s funny if I do say so myself!”

Tak backed away from the woman, and tripped into sitting on a log that no one else was sitting on already. 

“I think she likes me!” She heard pink-eyes say to Copper, who smiled fondly at her and nodded. Probably to spare her feelings, or something. As pink-eyes skipped away, Tak noticed with a weird sensation in her gut that she didn’t have a PAK.

“H-how did she…?”

Copper shrugged. “She don’t remember the smeetery, so the best answer is that she was just, spawned outside of it.”

“But how is that possible?”

Copper shrugged again. Tak was stunned. Any other day, she would have called her a mutant, or a freak, or something like that, but she couldn’t get the words out. And that was probably for the best. Copper clearly liked the oddity. “It’s just one of life’s mystery miracles. Though, be nice to ‘er if ya can? I mean, she’s done somethin phenomenal, survivin without a PAK, but she kind of suffers from it.” 

“So she’s, what, slow?” Tak said. Copper gave her a cold stare. She swallowed. “Uh, I get it, sorry.”

“If anything, Tes is proof that our PAKs were pointless.” Bronze said. His voice was low, and he leaned on Copper’s shoulder, before his nose wrinkled from the cold shoulder armor, and he sat up again. Tak didn’t know how to answer what Bronze said, so she didn’t.

Though it was cruel, she was already considering how her ability would affect Tes. She knew that she could make a simpleton do whatever her heart desired--as long as they were idiotic. 

Copper leaned forward to grab a spoon left inside the metal pot that hung over the fire, and he stirred whatever was inside of it. The calm quiet was rather nice, Tak relaxed and watched as Copper and Bronze cuddled underneath the sunrise. She looked down at her white boots. Seeing them together made her yearn for something similar.

“So, um, Tes called you Sciva?”

“Sciver,” Bronze corrected.

“Sciver, sorry. So then why does Copper-”

“Call ‘im Bronze? It’s a title.” Copper smiled against Bronze’s cheek, and kissed him again, three times rapidly. “If I die ‘e would take my place as leader.”

“You’re not going to die.” Bronze said. Copper fixed Bronze with a stressed expression.

Tak interrupts before they can argue about the mortality of a leader. “So is Copper a title too?”

“Yea,” he knocked on the chestplate he wore to bring attention to it. “Copper armor.”

Tak grinded her toe in the dirt beneath her foot. “So um, what’s your real name? If I may ask.”

“Ya may not.”

“Oh.”

Copper dipped a bowl into the pot, and then passed off the candy-like liquid over to her. She took the warm bowl in her hands, glad she was wearing gloves, and brought the rim to her lips. She wondered what kind of metal she’d be named after if she were in his shoes.

“Hey baby.”

Copper grunted, annoyed. He ignored Nyx as he sat down on the other empty log. Tak started gulping her liquidy-jello, soup thing faster, hoping to cover up the view of Nyx’s face for longer.

“How’s my favorite rebel leader? Sciver treating you well?”

“I know who I won’t be treating well if you continue talking to Copper.” Bronze snapped.

Nyx put up his hands in a faux surrender, but his expression was nonchalant. “Chill, chill, babe, I’m only teasing. So, princess,” he addressed his attention to Tak. “Word’s around that your name is Tak.”

She slammed her bowl on the log and crossed one leg over the other as she made direct eye contact with Nyx. “Teasing only works well if everyone’s in on it, apologize to Copper and… go squawk around, or something.” A blue electric current raced through her right eye and into her left, and Nyx stared at her dumbly for a few seconds.

He blinked and then turned to face Copper, “I’m sorry, baby, I’ll make it up to you.” He stood up and started stomping around dumbly, making clicking noises and chirrups, while Copper started laughing hysterically, and Bronze snorted.

Tak felt a little smug as Copper buried his face in one of Bronze’s thighs, an unrestrained grin on his face, while Bronze leaned on top of him and slapped his knee. Eventually Nyx seemed to catch on that this wasn’t something he’d do normally. He stared at his hands, baffled, and horrified. Then, he ran, obviously humiliated.

“How did ya do that?” Copper said between chuckles. He sat up, dabbing his eyes with his glove on his left hand. 

Tak shrugged and didn’t answer. The corner of Copper’s mouth twitched into a smirk, but it vanished completely. “I’m goin to set up patrols, then I’ll lead ya to the ship I’ve been workin on.”

He stood up and walked away, and Tak watched idly. She stared at Bronze, who took his bowl with him and left as well, probably to retire for the day. Her leg bounced a little as she waited, thinking about all the information that’s been given to her in the short time she’s been awake

She stood up when Copper reapproached her. “Alright, let’s go.” He gestured for her to follow, and this time they deviated from the main path. The sun was beginning to show it’s true colours, it burned the top of her head as she walked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo! This is the longest chapter in this fic yet. Isn't it nice that Tak is getting work tailored to her specialties? 
> 
> I do feel as though I should apologise for all the OCs in this story so far! Luckily, they'll all be temporary, but until then you'll just have to suffer like Tak is suffering while she recalls the events that led up to this. Have fun!


	8. communal gathering

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> smeeter - irken equivalent to “babysitter”.

Tak stepped back with a grin as the ship started up with a whir, and her pride only further grew when she heard Copper whistle. 

“Nicely done, Sack.” Tak caught something that Copper had tossed at her, and she stared at it curiously. “It’s an amulet. Shows ya helped out.”

Tak’s thumb brushed over the sheen of the odd object. “If you can call me Sack, I’m going to call you Cobbler.”

Tak was anticipating an irritated reaction out of Copper, so imagine her surprise when he broke out into a sharp laugh. He walked over and punched her shoulder ( _ “Ow!  _ Hey!”). “I like ya! Let’s get back to camp now, it’s about sundown and I’m sure yer starvin.”

She looked up at the sky, which was melting into a delicate lilac, and sighed. “It isn’t anything I haven’t already been through.” She replied. She followed him as he led her back to the main avenue. “So, um, what made you want to do- all of this?”

“Um, well,” they passed by a pair of smeets playing with a rock. They juggled it on the tips of their toes, and then passed it back and forth between each other. 

Tak stared at him again. He hasn’t been asked this question before, it seemed. “I mean, surely someone as tall as you hadn’t really experienced what I have.”

From the look Copper gave, Tak knew she had hit a nerve. She watched him mull over the question for a few more moments before he gave his answer: “I had a best friend in academy, around yer height. He was a bit too loud, and rowdy, and rebellious, so the tallests deactivated him. He was my only friend, and I remembered thinkin that if I was really his friend, I’d stop bein a part of that society.

“So I ran away, and joined a small gang of rebels who fucked around and gave Hell to elites and other supremacist fucks. It came to an end though, since none of us realized the surveillance in our PAKs would be a problem, we ended up gettin cornered. Everyone was killed, except for me, and PAK Man,” as Copper said this, they entered the main avenue.

She stared at her boots as she walked. “That’s horrible.”

“It is what it is,” he sighed. They walked in silence for a bit longer, before Bronze emerged from a tent they passed and jogged to catch up with Copper and Tak. “Did ya sleep?”

“Yes,  _ Copper _ .”

“So if I ask around people are gonna say ya weren’t around?” 

Bronze punched Copper’s shoulder, and the leader chuckled. Tak fell behind them. She had no place in this interaction, and therefore felt alienated. She noticed Tes following her, on the other side of the avenue, and knew that she was trying to work up the nerve to talk to her.

_ “Though, be nice to ‘er if ya can? I mean, she’s done somethin phenomenal, survivin without a PAK, but she kind of suffers from it.” _

Tak sighed. She didn’t get paid enough for this. Eventually Tes approached Tak and smiled down at her. “Hi!”

“Hey,” Tak adjusted the belt around her wrist. “How was your day?”

Tes’s eyes grew glassy. Not making eye contact, she sniffed. “Oh, sorry, no one’s really asked me somethin like that before, I’m all choked up. My day was great, w-what about yours?”

“Well I was working on a busted up shuvver all day, so I can’t really say I had one.” 

Copper stopped walking just before they exited the mouth into a large clearing. “Here’s the Communal Pit, we come together every other night, so it’s nice that yer first day ends with one of these. It’s your chance to meet everyone, make a good first impression… whatever.”

Copper then places his hand on Tak’s upper back, and shoves her into the clearing. Tes giggled loudly and followed.

Tes takes Tak’s hands in her own and brushes her thumbs over her knuckles. “There’s usually music n dancin, Tak, would you dance with me?”

Tak withdrew her hands. “Oh no, sorry, sweetheart. I don’t dance.”

Tes deflates. “That’s okay.” There’s a long, awkward pause between the girls, before Tes excuses herself and finds company amongst familiar people. Tak watched as more irkens enter the clearing, and she quietly retired to a log that’s the furthest away from the social interaction. She put her cheek in her hand, and leaned her elbow on her knee, and thinks about her pod. She wondered if she was anywhere near it now. She thinks about where she fixed the shuvver, and remembers all the scrap parts there. 

She was in the process of wondering how she would be able to gather a few parts and sneak off to her pod when Copper releases a loud cry, similar to a scream that would be given before a group heads into a battle, and her attention is immediately on him. A hush runs over the chatty irkens.

“Before dinner begins I’d like to introduce everyone to a newcomer,” he says. “Ya know who ya are, come up.”

As Copper stared at Tak, more irkens followed his stare and also looked at her. Her antennae flattened to her head and a blue flush entered her cheeks. She hated being put on the spot like this. She stood up and walked through the crowd, climbing up the platform to stand next to Copper.

He holds out his hand, “Amulet.”

“Oh, um,” Tak reaches into her PAK and pulls out the piece of technology, passing it over to him. He holds it up for everyone to see.

“As ya can see, she’s already proven she could make a fine member of our society, so treat ‘er with respect. Let’s give a warm welcome to Tak!”

An uproarious cheer erupted from the crowd as clapping, cheering, and whooping rang out. One of Tak’s antennae twitched, overstimulated from the noise. Back on Irk gatherings like this were a lot more quiet and orderly. But… she had to admit, it looked like everyone was having fun.

“Now get outta ‘ere,” Copper lightly pushed her, making it clear he wanted her to get down from the platform. She snatched her amulet out of his hand before she got down the platformer and smirked at the reaction the crowd gave to it.

Rations and sweet soup were handed out, and the energy of the gathering calmed to mild conversation. Tak didn’t approach anyone, and in turn no one approached her, until it was time to retire for the night. That was when Bronze approached her. 

“Aw come on!” Tak grumbled. “I  _ still _ need a smeeter?”

“Oh, not at all. I mean, unless you want one.” Bronze answered sarcastically. “Usually people who get the first amulet get their own tent, so I’m here to lead you to yours.”

“Oh.” She laughed awkwardly. “Of course. Why isn’t Copper doing it?”

“He’s setting up patrols so I thought I’d do something today, officially.” He began to walk as he spoke. 

Tak followed. “Can I ask what made you want to join this? Gig?”

Bronze looked at her, and she held her hands up. “Sorry.”

“Irk, and the control brains, are trying to snuff out the history of our home before PAKs and surveillance. I left to preserve what I can.” 

That was a pretty straightforward answer, and a fairly noble one too. She looked him up and down for a second, before continuing to walk in silence. When they arrived at her tent, he gestured at it, and then walked away. Tak looked at the camp, watching as fires in the distance were put out, before walking into her new sleeping place.

She shut the tent flap before she walked to her new cot and collapsed on it. She sighed pleasantly, her back painfully relaxing in relief. She opened her PAK and took out her map.

Tak was relieved to see that she was still rather close to her escape pod. She put the display down and rested her head in her arms. She was exhausted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seems like Copper’s keeping secrets! But it’s okay. Tak is too. You know what they say, though. An eye for an eye.


	9. monster

Tak stood in the training room, standing several meters apart from her opponent. She adjusted her training gloves, and carefully sank into a fighting stance. Red did the same. Tak drowned out the fighting sounds of other paired up students, focusing only on Red in front of her. 

Look at him. He thought he was everything when he couldn’t even make eye contact with Zim. Zim, of all people. He didn’t seem overly focused on her, like this would be an easy win. It made her burn.

The instructor sipped on a straw. When it was empty, he tossed it at the head of a nearby smaller. “Throw that out. Tak, play fair. Red, go all out. Fight.”

Those last few words snapped the last bit of self-control she had apart. She took a deep breath and exhaled.

Red quickly closed the gap between them. Tak didn’t flinch or move, and took the opportunity to duck beneath his hit and landing a punch in his gut. He choked, the instructor shouted. 

Tak fell to the ground and swept her foot around, knocking Red down. His PAK clanked against the floor when he fell and he gave a strained noise. Tak stood up and spun, the tip of her steel-toe connecting with his cheekbone. His head was thrown to the side, and Tak drew her foot back in the opposite direction, kicking his other cheek with her heel.

She kept her balance, and gave one last harsh kick to his jaw, which threw his head backwards. He laid there, stunned. Normally, this is where Tak would have drawn the line, but there were angry spirits knocking at the door in her mind. How she deserved to be recognized. Taller. Appreciated. Noticed. She deserved it all, she deserved it more than  _ Red. _

She straddled his waist, and grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him up so that he could see as she drew her arm back and punched him. She bloodied his nose, split his lip, gave him a nasty black eye, and she just kept punching over and over and over until someone pulled her off of him.

Tak hissed and elbowed the instructor, who doubled over in pain. She deployed her PAK legs defensively, and people who had begun to approach her backed up.

That was when she heard a familiar voice. “ _ Red! _ ” She turned and watched Zim run over to the student. He knelt beside him and held his face. “Oh Red, Jesus,” he turned to stare at Tak with a furious glare. “She did this?”

“I’m-I’m fine,” Red gasped as he sat up. “It’s okay, it was nothing.”

Tak knew in the back of her mind she had ruined everything. But she didn’t show this on the outside. She retracted her PAK legs and pointed at Red. “Let him be an example of exactly what I’m capable of, and a reason why you should treat me with respect. Or fear,” she shrugged. “Whichever works.”

Zim hugged Red’s head to his stomach. “You’re a  _ monster _ .”


	10. you've got us

**CLANG CLANG!**

“Up, ladies. Up!”

Tak rolled over her bed with a groan. She’d been up all night, walking back and forth between the scrap pit and her pod, calculating, measuring, blueprinting, and putting together her new ship. Fortunately, she found a memory disk that she could temporarily use to revive MiMi until she got the one Zim stole, and now she was charging in the pod. But with all that effort came with little fruition--and about 30 minutes of actual sleep.

She emerged from her tent with a death glare. “Find a spot out of everyone’s way, and dig your own grave.”

Nyx opened his mouth with a smirk, obviously ready to turn Tak’s bitter threat into a way to flirt with her. But she doesn’t pay attention to whatever he says. Her eyes are trained on Copper and Bronze, who are wearing incredibly stressed expressions. She hesitantly approaches them, trying not to make her presence known so she could catch a piece of their conversation.

“--And Irken technology is popping up on our radar,” Copper says anxiously. “Nothin of ours, that’s what I’m scared about. That means it’s hooked up to the control brains.”

Tak’s stomach flopped. “Iyam,” Bronze says in a low voice, cupping Copper’s cheeks. “Relax, I doubt it’s anything.”

Iyam… Tak tilts her head at the name. She’d never known that name, but for some strange reason, she feels like she’s heard it before. She shakes it off and closes the gap between her and the pair of rebel leaders.

Copper and Bronze detach from each other, looking rather guilty. “I overheard, the technology you’re talking about may very well be the pod I came here in.” She explains crisply. “It has my broken SIR Unit inside of it.”

Relief washes over Copper’s face, but it’s quickly replaced with a stern expression. “Why didn’t ya tell us this  _ earlier _ ?!”

Tak flinches at the anger in his face and takes a step back. Bronze’s hand slides onto Copper’s shoulder, and the leader relaxes slightly. “Because yer just about as paranoid as I am.”

Tak takes a commanding step forward, and Copper reflexively takes a step back at the sudden power shift. “I can take you to it but you will  _ not _ deactivate MiMi.”

“MiMi?” Copper breathes, once again relaxing out of the defensive stance he’d taken. “Is that yer SIR’s name?”

Tak wrings her hands together. “She’s all I’ve got.”

“That isn’t true,” Bronze says. He smiles at Tak, and her antennae perk in surprise. “You’ve got us, remember?”

The invader is stunned at the genuine friendliness in his expression and his voice. For a moment, she’s compelled to join this resistance in heart and soul and stay on this planet. She looks between Copper and Bronze, opening her mouth. Then she shuts it. No. Not yet anyway.

There’s only one thing she wants right now.

And that’s Zim’s head on a silver platter and a throne.


	11. face it, i beat red.

The other cadets were scared of Tak after she single handedly took down the best student in the class, and rightfully so. The instructors tried their hardest to reinforce the height hierarchy, but they’d been wholly unsuccessful in doing so, since they, too, were too nervous to even reprimand Tak.

Several days had swam past with no difference. Tak hated herself, for making the biggest mistake of her miserable life. However there was no point in dwelling on these things. The past was behind her. She made her bed, so now she’ll sleep in it. 

It was late night, Tak usually went down to the empty training room to absentmindedly punch a training dummy since rest usually eluded her. It was rare that anyone was up at that time, and yet...

One of Tak’s antennae twitches as she hears a heel clack, and she turns around in time to grab a wrist and slam her attacker down on the ground. “Zim?” She says, watching his mouth part to express the pain of having his PAK hit. 

He glares at her furiously, and her antennae pin the back of her head as he jumps up and deploys his PAK legs. He launches himself forward at her, and she drop rolls out of the way. She couldn’t anticipate him jumping down onto her. She yelps as he punches her cheek, and then reaches for her antenna.

She lifts her foot and kicks him in his stomach, sending him flying backwards. She jumps to her feet and dusts off her shoulder.

“Face it. I beat Red. You’re nowhere near me in skill.” 

Zim merely growled in response and leaped towards Tak once again. The Irken grabs his wrist and maneuvers him, then pins him to the ground with a foot against the crown of his head and two hands holding his arm back so that his shoulder aches. “Give up. Give up or I swear I’ll break your shoulder.”

Zim snarled angrily. His PAK whirred as he tried to deploy his PAK legs, so she yanked his arm up and slammed it into the ground, breaking it ruthlessly. She dropped the limb and gets off of him. 

Tak fixes him with a cold glare, and then walks away from the scene. She’s never felt more empty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With the flashbacks for the most part done, you can expect longer chapters now. Thank you for following this story so far <3


	12. revenge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't edit this chapter but I might edit it later so. Heads up.

There’s a crisp white disc in the sky, surrounded by a warm scarlet bleeding outwards into indigo as Tak and Copper return to camp.

A small robot is cradled in Tak’s arms, almost as though she were carrying a child. MiMi still wasn’t fully recovered from being shut off so long, but at the very least she was operational. Tak still refused to set her down so that she could walk on her own. 

The initial relief at getting the little SIR Unit back was short lived. The replacement disk obviously changed her personality to that of a standard SIR...so she wasn’t even MiMi anymore. This realization was somehow worse than not having MiMi at all, and still, the invader clung to this scrap of metal with vague hope that things would get better.

Tak follows Copper to one of the dozens of pits, and she sits down on an empty log while Copper collapses on another towards her left. He runs his hand over his head, as though he’s slicking his antennae back, before shaking his head and leaning forward to poke at the fire with a stick he gathered off the ground.

She stares at his mechanical arm for a moment, before her steady gaze was interrupted by Bronze sitting down next to Copper and draping an arm around his waist. “Was it as bad as you anticipated?”

Copper turns and stares coldly at Tak, and she swallows. The rebel hadn’t been particularly impressed that she’d been trying to rebuild her pod into a ship, but she cooly lied and brushed it aside by saying all progress had been before she settled in camp. Copper’s steady glare told her everything--he hadn’t believed a single word of it. But still, with no evidence, there was nothing he could accuse her of. “Not really, still concernin, but not really.”

Bronze is oddly stiff, like a statue, following Copper’s gaze. He could tell his mate was uneasy. One of Tak’s antennae twitches, and she merely looks down at her broken SIR Unit with a sigh. What a drawback in her mission.

Another Irken joined them, sitting on the log to Tak’s right. She looks up to catch sight of a twiggy kind of body with a long line of black paint over his forehead and down one of his blue eyes. He clears his throat, then speaks in a nasally voice. “Tak, is it? I was the one who adjusted your PAK, and I’m following up to see how it’s holding up.”

She sets MiMi down next to her, and shrugs. “I haven’t come up with any difficulti-”

“Good, good,” he interrupts. “That’s good. Great news, isn’t it Copper? See how easy it is?” Copper rolls his eyes. “Anyway, I’m glad things have been working out, guess I’ll retreat back to my haven.”

“No, why don’t you stay and introduce yourself?” Copper said while he was half-way off the log and ready to walk away.

“Alright, cunt, guess I will.” He sat back down and looks at Tak. “Runie, PAK specialist by proximity.”

“What?”

“It means I didn’t get training for this bullshit and I certainly don’t get paid enough either, but nevermind that. We all have our stories for being here, what’s yours?” Runie props his chin up on his hand, leaning his elbow onto his knee. 

“What?”

“I’m starting to think I did botch up my job on you.”

Tak shakes her head, her spinning mind trying to keep up with how fast everything was moving. “I just-”

“Here, I can start so you get an example. You see, I got rejected from being put on the team that manages the Control Brains’ data because of my height so I pretty much left Irk society and met up with that bitch over there,” he nods towards Copper, “And now the rest is history.”

Tak opens her mouth to talk again, but is cut off by Copper’s laughter. “You don’t give a damn about Tak’s backstory, you just want to brag about how smart you are.”

“That’s not true,” Runie snarks back. “Tak, go ahead.”

She remains silent, her indigo eyes flickering over the three Irkens staring at her expectantly. Runie scoffs, Copper shrugs and reaches up to cup Bronze’s cheek. Tak stares down at MiMi and wrings her hands together, before clearing her throat.

“I… fell in love with a sm- this Irken,” she began slowly. “But he never noticed me. He only cared about the valedictorian of our class, who was… the tallest in my class.”

There was an unfortunate hiss from Copper. Runie fixes Tak with a slight frown, about as close to a pity expression anyone would get from him, it seems.

“As the salutatorian, I was paired up with the only Irken above me in skill. I let my rage consume me and I… messed him up pretty bad. He was in the hospital wing for a day or two. And, my crush, he attacked me.

“In self-defense, I ended up breaking his shoulder. He didn’t approach me again, after that. I finished my training as a cadet, flying colours I might add. It came the time that I would be able to take the test to be an elite.”

Bronze and Copper exchanged a glance.

“I would usually have gone second to take the test, after the valedictorian, but…  _ he _ changed the positioning on the list, so that I’d go last. And then,  _ he _ find the power grid, for the half of the planet I was on, and blew it out.

“I was trapped, while all the other elites took their tests and passed on the other side of the planet. I plead my case to the control brains, but they told me I would have to wait 50 years. I was encoded to a cleaning drone and assigned to Planet Dirt. I spent years there, before I decided I would take his mission as an invader from him. I built… MiMi, and my own ship from scraps and I was almost successful, but he…  _ stopped me _ somehow!” 

Tak stands up, her body encased in rage. “And he sent me  _ drifting  _ in space, aimlessly, no food, no water, no SIR, I would have  _ died  _ if I never came across this planet!” She exhales shakily. “And I swear,  _ I swear  _ that I’m going to get revenge on him if it’s the last thing I do.”

Her declaration is met with silence. She looks up and sees the mixed expressions of the bunch. Copper’s expression is almost unreadable, but she gets the vague feeling that he understands where she’s coming from. Bronze opens and closes his mouth a few times, processing the information of an old class that would otherwise have gone unfound. And Runie starts clapping.

“Yeah, revenge is kind of what we’re all about here! You’ll fit in just perfectly.” He says, and stands up. “And with that, I’m off. Smell ya later, sweethearts.”

He steps over the log he’d been sitting on and saunters away with a cackle.

Tak rolls her eyes. “Is it me, or do Irkens with blue eyes always turn out to be major pricks?” 

Copper opens his mouth to argue, but then shuts it, seeming to remember that Nyx exists. He smiles and chuckles at the generalization, then shakes his head. 

After another dinner of sweet soup (the stuff was beginning to grow on Tak), she’d stood up and readied to walk over to her tent when she catches sight of Copper waving her over. She hesitates, before walking over to him, “What’s up?”

“How’s your juice, think ya can run for a few more hours?”

_ No, not at all _ . “Yeah, for what?”

“Every sunset I pick a group out of the crowd to patrol around the area, check for suspicious disturbances, that sort of thing. Me and Bronze were on a patrol together when we came across you.” He fixes her with an odd expression. “Sorry about that by the way.”

Tak rubs her head where Copper had clobbered her over the back of her head a few days ago. “It’s alright. So, is this your way of telling me I’m on a patrol?”

“With me, of course.”  _ Of course. _ “Just watching you in action. Happens to all newbies.”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.” 

“So come on then,” Copper tilts his head towards the side. “We’ve already got the others rounded up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So now I'll update this story every Saturday !! yay for consistent schedules


End file.
